Apparently ADE 2 is safe, also possibly version 3. Luckily I hadn't upgraded to the infested #4. But now I am very wary of anything with a spyware taint, be it intentional on Adobe's part or a really stupid programming screw up, so a substitute would be welcome.

Anyone concerned about buying books with DRM they can't remove should stick with ADE 2.x. At any time the books downloaded through ADE 3.x and 4.x could come with a new DRM scheme, once someone decides to flip a switch.

Anyone concerned about buying books with DRM they can't remove should stick with ADE 2.x. At any time the books downloaded through ADE 3.x and 4.x could come with a new DRM scheme, once someone decides to flip a switch.

Taking into consideration that not every ebook consumer is technically interested enough on these matters, exactly this switch-flipping might be the shit-hits-fan event leading to a webwide uproar and shitstorm needed for a change.
The amount of vote-with-your-wallet boycoteers and prepared DRM-removers is to small a subset of the customer base to provoke a change.
Maybe myriads of DRM-ignorant owners of older readers would be enough for building up a critical mass. This is why I wait for somebody pushing the big button.

Perhaps the Kindle dev forum participants can answer more authoritatively, but I don't think so, beyond the data you'd expect in a cloud-synced system. I seem to recall claims of such over the years and never any proof, despite hackers monitoring device traffic and such.

So the conclusion seems clear: If Amazon is secretly spying on you, they're better at it than Adobe is!

Perhaps the Kindle dev forum participants can answer more authoritatively, but I don't think so, beyond the data you'd expect in a cloud-synced system. I seem to recall claims of such over the years and never any proof, despite hackers monitoring device traffic and such.

So the conclusion seems clear: If Amazon is secretly spying on you, they're better at it than Adobe is!

I knew there was a good reason I never wanted to install Adobe. Now I never will. Isn't scanning your computer without permission illegal like opening and reading someone's mail? Even the government would need a warrant. How could a business get away with it? Is this a sueable invasion of privacy?

If you have a Kindle, you can send Overdrive library books from Amazon's servers to your Kindle; no ADE involved. I guess there are some Overdrive books which are not available in Kindle format; I haven't come across them myself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by meeera

... in the USA. There's no such thing as a Kindle library book
here (or in many other places, I believe).